The Goa Film Festival
Officially, the 35th International Film Festival of India (IFFI)35th International Film Festival of India was held in Goa from 29th November to 9th December 2004. More than 170 films from across the globe were shown in various sections of the festival. The festival also offered opportunities to young filmmakers below 24 years of age to make digital films within 24 hours during the festival. About forty such films were screened. There was an Asian Competition Section. Fifteen films from Israel, China, Malaysia, Russia, Thailand, Bangladesh, Iran, and India were included. A film from Thailand, ‘Beautiful Boxer’ (Dir. Ekachai Uekrongtham), won the Silver Peacock whereas Iranian film
‘Beautiful City’ (Dir. Asghar Farhadi) won the Golden Peacock, the top prize.
Asghar FarhadiThe festival opened with great pomp and show. The big wigs of the industry including Yash Chopra, Dilip Kumar, Aamir Khan, Subhash Ghai, Bobby Bedi, Rahman, Ashok Amritraj, Manmohan Shetty, Manisha Koirala, Javed Akhtar, Shabana Aazmi, Meera Nair, and a host of others attended the opening ceremony at Kala Academy, at Panjim. Rahman gave a concert showcasing the songs from Subhash Ghai’s forthcoming film ‘Kishna’. One of the Kishna heroines Sharvani Sheth gave a scintillating dance performance using her rope mallkhamb skills learnt from her mother Daksha Seth. She is beautiful and has a very supple body and vibrant personality. The festival opened with Vanity Fair directed by Meera Nair and ended with Alexander, directed by Oliver Stone. E City Entertainment, a part of ZEE, is distributing the film in India.
There were sideshows also. They gave Goans an opportunity to be part of the festival in some way. They included shows by Remo, and Anupam Kher. Popular Indian films were screened at Miramar beach every day. Thousands thronged to watch these movies. The refurbished promenade alongside Mandovi river had many performing platforms where all kind of activities including classical music and Goan music concerts would go on till midnight. It was really a vibrant, and colourful festival scene.
Rahman at the openingWill the festival be renamed as Goa Film Festival?
This was the question that haunted everyone. The speculation continued till the last date. When I&B Minister Jaipal Reddy made the announcement that 36th IFFI will also be held at Goa, Manohar Parikar, the Chief Minister of Goa, took a huge sigh of relief. He had done everything to make the festival a success. He would be seen walking around like an ordinary mortal, supervising various activities. He succeeded in winning the hearts of delegates by his extreme simplicity. He sincerely admitted the shortcomings of the festival and promised to make amends next year. It seems that the I&B Ministry put all the politics away and rewarded the CM for his hard work.
Jaipal Reddy & Manohar Parikar
There were critics of Goa government too. Well known singer Remo said that the money that was spent on entertaining people by organizing variety shows could have been best used for providing basic amenities. Justifiably, nobody took his comments seriously. However, IFFI is not going to be renamed as Goa Film Festival on the lines of Cannes very soon. Perhaps a change in the government in Goa will pave the way for it. Jaipal Reddy's repeated and blatant references in his press conference to the phone calls of the Pradesh Congress Committee (PCC) President was a clear and undeniable indication that even a film festival was not above party politics. There were quite a few begotted leftists who were trying to undermine Manohar Parikar at various forums just because he happened to be a BJP man.Good, bad, and ugly
Apart from the films that won awards, cinema buffs had great appreciation for the Argentinian-Brazilian film The Motorcycle Diaries by Walter Salas, the Canadian film Barbarian Invasions by Denys Arcand, the South African film Yesterday by Darrell James Roodt, and the Russian film The Return by Andrey Zvyagintsev. Most of the European films were quite uninspiring and one could sleep through them so was the case with the films in the Indian Panorama. The IFFI Directorate should stop classifying films into ‘Cinema of the World (COW)’, ‘Asian Cinema’, and ‘Indian Panorama’. It serves no purpose. The delegates prefer to watch films that are branded as COW. Indian films are generally ignored.
Neelam Kapur, the Festival DirectorFor that matter the approach of the IFFI Directorate will have to undergo a major transformation in these changing times. Gone are the days when film festivals were organized for the Film Society members alone to let them watch the art house cinema of the world. Today, film festivals provide a forum to filmmakers to showcase their work and explore business possibilities. The festival director Neelam Kapur must appreciate this fact. She admitted in her parting press meet about difficulties in getting important films for her festival. She mentioned Barbarian Invasions as an example. It is a one year old film that should have been included in 2003 IFFI programme. The distributor demanded an unaffordable sum for it then. It has been included now when many a film buff have already watched it on DVD. Same is the case of Sofia Coppola's Lost In Translation. Absence of an effective market is making the task of DFF difficult. While talking to Steven Fernandes of exchange4media.com, Director General of the Federation of Film Producers Association (FIAPF) Bertrand Moullier emphasized this point too. Here is a link to that article:-
Is your festival rated? Food for thought for IFFI
How to make films that could win Oscars?
This was the subject of discussion in an open forum. It seems we are moving towards making ‘designer films’ now following into the footsteps of corporatised film making of Hollywood kind. What a subject to choose for a discussion in an international film festival? Why do we keep turning ourselves into a laughing stock by doing such stupid things? Similarly, Indian filmmakers were being pontificated about how to write scripts for crossover films. Many of the so-called crossover Indian films that were shown at the festival were downright bad. One of the films, American Daylight (Dir. Roger Christian), was also written by the greatest of all crossover film writers of India.
Koel Purie the lead actress of
American Daylight at a press meet
I spoke to Derek Malcolm, a highly respected film critic from London and the Honorary President of FIPRESCI, after the screening of the film. He smirked and said, ‘very bad’. As far as the screenplay of the film was concerned, ‘C’ grade Indian films are better written. The film is about ‘call centre’ business. It depicts the employees of these call centres as corrupt and unethical people who can do anything for money. The film portrays India and Indians in bad light. Bobby Bedi, the producer of the film, admitted that no research was done before making it. This probably is the ‘crossover mantra’, showing India as a nation of corrupt, depraved, sick, immoral, unethical, and poor people living in hellholes and ready to sell their soul for a few dollars.
Derek MalcolmThe cinema that we experienced at IFFI should send a positive message to all Asian filmmakers.
Hollywood and European cinema don't have many exciting and inspiring stories left to tell. These societies are in a moribund state and after exhausting war ideas, they have turned to unidimensional subject of sex, using it to the point of death...almost. It seems they have to have another war to get excited about film making. Bosnia issue is not there any more. Iraq and Afghanistan wars cannot be used as they pose disturbing moral dilemmas before the Hollywood film industry. It has been opposed to these wars anyway. They are now turning to ancient history in search of war subjects. Alexander is an example. Apart from war and sex you come across typical Disney style sugar coated films that focus on family values in the same old, oft repeated ways. Films like Vanity Fair are excruciatingly boring. Here is our opportunity. We should refuse to be branded as regional cinema that has no relevance in the world of white people. We must make films our way with subjects that inspire us and there will be a world market for it. The Iranians and the Chinese are making some really inspiring films that have international appeal. It is wrong and suicidal to presume that the world revolves around Europe and the US of A.
The CII’s Film Bazaar
Film Bazaar Pandal
The Film Bazaar at Kala Academy was inaugurated with great fanfare by Mr. Jaipal Reddy, the I&B Minister. Its purpose was over as soon as the minister left the venue. It was the biggest joke of the festival, played at the cost of public money. There was nothing in it except a few stalls plastered with posters. These stalls were rarely manned. It was a non-existent ‘Film Bazaar’, a sham and a real shame. Thirty lakhs were spent on this Bazaar that probably did not even generate business worth thirty rupees. This calls for serious investigation. The CII must clarify if this is the way they intend promoting the film industry by organizing useless extravaganzas of this kind? The only living showman of the industry and the king of crossover cinema were in charge of this activity. The I&B Ministry must understand that the dream of turning Goa into another Cannes will come to nothing in the absence of a robust market section in the IFFI. The ratings of the festival will remain low and good filmmakers would not care to send even the DVD copies of their films for it. The CII and the FICCI have done nothing to address or understand the real issues of the film industry. They are only good at conjuring fantastic figures to project a rosy picture of the industry. What effort was made by the CII to ensure the participation of distributors, broadcasters, cable companies, exhibitors, and other prospective buyers in the “Film Bazaar’? If we went by the final outcome, they did almost nothing and government's money went down the drain in hiring a big tent and putting up 20 and odd irrelevant stalls to fool the I&B Ministry. Some, such as Ernst & Young, put up stalls in the Film Bazaar to oblige their clients like CII and FICCI. This shows how lightly the whole exercise was taken.The government must not entrust the task of organizing the Film Bazaar to CII or FICCI. Though these industry associations have formed all kind of committees headed by big names, they have not served the purpose of the industry on the whole. There has been a lot of big talk and very little work. The pathetic Film Bazaar at Goa is the best example of how dysfunctional these committees are. FFI should take charge and develop the market section of IFFI by creating a team consisting of competent people picked up from various associations, who have passion for the job. One wonders as to why FFI has ceded its legitimate turf to CII and FICCI.
Need for redefining the vision and strategy
A definite vision and strategy is needed here. Film Festivals should be perceived as meeting grounds for producers, distributors, and viewers. They are like any other expositions where one does networking, establishes important business contacts, and develops an awareness of the state of the world cinema. The IFFI Directorate cannot confine itself to mere programming of the festival. It must enlarge its vision and make it more integrated and inclusive. Even the programming approach needs revamping. It should redefine its objectives and lay greater emphasis on developing the market section of IFFI to ensure better participation by important filmmakers, and global buyers. This will lead to higher international ratings for the festival, making it a world class affair in true sense. Film industry can be part of this exercise but the festival directorate should define the mission and vision. It should create a permanent cell that would work towards startegising and implementing the grand vision of turning IFFI, Goa, as the ultimate destination of filmmakers, buyers, and cinema enthusiasts from across the globe.
All said and done it was fun being in Goa for this festival. There were parties almost everyday. The lucky and resourceful ones got the invites. Everyone would let their hair loose in these parties. Delegates were generally happy. People did not have any major complaints. DFF, Goa Government, and PIB did a good job. It was a well coordinated affair. If there were hitches, they got sorted out in time. People are looking forward to the 36th IFFI. They know their way around Goa now. Travel and accommodation should not be much of an issue for second timers. If you explored, you discovered affordable and reasonably good options. Others may have paid a little more. Food was not very expensive either. Frayed nerves were soothed by the time the festival ended. It was best reflected in the persona of the festival director. She was at her smiling best on the last day in stark contrast to her scowling best on the eve of the festival.
RKS
